Can confirm I don't see a Child device under the Litter Robot Manager
1 Like
Have you tried the LR support suggestion of letting the manual box get a bit "dirtier" than normal? And to have it next to the LR4? That tends to help a cat "decide" to use the cleaner LR4. Also, putting some of the reticent cat's "poo" into the LR4 so it adds their scent to the litter.
Yes. No dice. I know this because of the weight recorded. It may have been better if I was blissfully ignorant.
-blank stare-
I have a roomba in the same room and didn't think to do that...
Right after every use might be a little much with 4 cats though. haha
1 Like
BTW, The Homebridge plugin doesn’t seem to work either. No devices are created with that either.
The Litter Robot integration, written by Nate Spencer for SmartThings and ported by Dominick Meglio (@dman2306) to Hubitat, only works for the LR3, which I have. The API for the LR4 is very different. Neither API is published, and everything has been reverse engineered.
Dominic Meglio has left Hubitat for Home Assistant, and Nate Spencer left SmartThings for Home Assistant, too. Nate Spencer has developed an automation for Home Assistant that supports LR3, LR4, and the other LR product, the Feeder Robot. That automation seems to be undergoing continual change and development.
I spoke with Tom Denton, the Director of Software Engineering, a year ago, and he seems like a nice guy, very bright. He had just joined Litter Robot (now, Whisker) a few months before I spoke to him. The original API and mobile app for the LR3 was written by outside contract programmers, and is the API (“Legacy API”) that the Hubitat integration uses. Tom Denton assured me that the Legacy API will not go away even though the older mobile app has been removed from the Google and Apple app stores. A new mobile app was developed, using a Google Firebase API, but that API was scrapped when Tom Denton took over and brought all programming in-house. A new, extensible, API was developed for the new mobile app that supports LR3, LR4, the Feeder Robot, and other products. Nate Spencer’s Home Assistant automation, written in Python, uses this new (still unpublished) API.
If/when Nate Spencer’s Home Assistant automation stabilizes, or if the new Whisker API becomes published, I may port that to Hubitat. I have a LR3, and Dominic Meglio’s port has been rock solid for me.
Until then, if you want to integrate the LR4 with Hubitat, you should spin up a Home Assistant instance on a Raspberry Pi and use the community HADB to bring it into Hubitat.
2 Likes
While a larger project than I thought it'd be -- I can do that. I think I may be able to run HA as a task on my Unraid server (docker might be available).
Thanks for the suggestion and very detailed info on "where we're at". Never crossed my mind that the LR4 would be so different than the LR3.
1 Like
Yup. An "official" Home Assistant docker at that.. That'll work. I'll get that running on my Unraid server.
1 Like
Oh the humanity! Looks like I'll be sticking with the LR3. Could not do without it and the automation is super helpful. When Alexa announced "Kitty pooper needs attention" that's our call to action.
Maybe they will at least support IFTTT?
1 Like
That was easy, and seems to be working. Thanks for the suggestion and info 
1 Like
Care to give me any pointers? Anything you ran into unusual? I've never done the HA or HADB. Straight forward?
Surprisingly so. Just be aware that the devices won’t appear in Hubitat until they have an event. Followed the instructions in the thread that @672southmain linked. This was my first time using HA as well. I installed it from the Snap store on a Ubuntu desktop that I set up for Homebridge and Echo Speaks. It found the litter robot automatically, I just had to enter my email and password.
1 Like
HooHoo! Yup -- wasn't too bad getting it running as a Docker on my Unraid server and connected to Hubitat.
Wanted to compare notes a bit.
Am seeing this as a automatic device
But in HA - there are several devices
Eg, in Hubitat -- am seeing ONLY one of the HA "device" - "Waste Drawer" -- is that right? Or do the other show up eventually?
Specifically, was hoping to get something that would tell me that it was idle or cycling (HA says the values are 'docked' or 'cleaning')
Yes, after the first event happens, they will populate.
That isn’t coming through for me either.
There were some devices that I unselected because I don’t plan to use them, and some that aren’t coming through like running cycle and pet weight (but show up in the devices that can be selected). Litter level percentage, waste drawer percentage, night light, and last scene are the ones I have currently.
Ok, progress -- went to HA and manually changed the cycle delay from 15 to 7 -- then back again.
Then, in Hubitat I see more "devices"
The one I most want next (now that I have litter level & poo-box level) - is to tell me when the ball is actually running.
It looks like there's two ways to know if the box is running. Neither are coming through.
I could work with the "Status Code" changing from "Ready" to "Clean cycle in Progress"
Or I could work with the "Litter Box" changing from "Docked" to Cleaning"
I think I have at least the "Status" code set to come through
But am not yet seeing any device that has the "status code" available -- I'd expect based on what I've seen -- it'd be it's own dedicated device
I'm hoping I'm just impatient -- and through time, it'll all work itself out.
1 Like
It hasn't shown up for me, and it's been 2 days.
I even tried to add the "HA Object ID" to Hubitat (advanced options in the HA app) -- no dice. Will continue to wait 
It is of "vacuum" type in HA -- that may be part of it, Hubitat not understanding that --
But Pet Weight and Status Code are "sensor" type -- and other "sensor" types are coming through (litter level, waste drawer)
So far, I am not getting any of these -- and sounds like you aren't either.
Status = vacuum.esti_s_litter_robot_4_litter_box
Pet Weight = sensor.esti_s_litter_robot_4_pet_weight
Status Code = sensor.esti_s_litter_robot_4_status_code
1 Like
You are correct. You could try turning on debug logging in the HADB driver and then throwing something into the litter box so that it records an event and runs a cycle. Then post that info into the HADB thread to see if anyone knows how to get it working. It may just need a modification to one of the drivers to pick it up.
Also, look at the HA pull requests for Nate Spencer’s LR automation. As I noted at the beginning of this thread, it’s in active development, many changes ongoing. This may be something that’s not fully mature.
1 Like
